Can I Kiss You?
by Kherezae
Summary: Was it possible to set your destiny at six years old? If it was, Riku suspected that those words had set him on the path he’d taken. [soriku] [oneshot]


- **c**an **i** k**i**ss **y**o**u**? -

Soriku; standard 'not mine' disclaimer; some fluff at the beginning, some regret at the end. Reviews are appreciated. I love concrit, I laugh at flames.

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- **c**an **i** k**i**ss **y**o**u**? -

"Can I kiss you?"

Riku just stares at him for a moment, and Sora feels that 'uh-oh' feeling grow in his belly. "What?" his best friend asks with a confused frown. Sora realizes he probably shouldn't have just blurted that out… but he was watching this TV show his mama liked, and he saw a kiss, and now he's curious! "Kissing is for a boy and a girl, stupid," Riku laughs. "Not for a boy and a boy."

Sora screws up his face in confusion and asks, "Why?"

"That's just the way it is," Riku says, his momentary frown quickly replaced by a teasing grin. "Boys and girls are boyfriend and girlfriend. Boys and boys are friends."

"But why? Girls are stupid," Sora reminds Riku, thinking of Selphie. Selphie is annoying and only likes to play with dolls and other girly things.

"You just think so because you're a year younger than me," Riku replies smugly. "I'm older. I know."

Sora frowns for a moment and asks, "Would _you_ kiss a girl?" He wrinkles his nose; girls are stupid!

"No!" Riku exclaims, grimacing and tossing a handful of sand at Sora.

Sora laughs and brushes the sand away, but instead of throwing sand back he says, "But you wouldn't kiss me either."

"Boys don't kiss boys!" Riku says, and Sora can tell he's getting a little annoyed.

"Then what do boys do?" he asks, frowning and digging his fingers into the sand.

A cocky smile spreads slowly across Riku's face, and in an instant he's on his feet, his wooden sword in his hands. "We fight!" he exclaims. "Bet you can't beat me, Sora."

"Bet I can!" Sora grabs his own wooden sword from the dirt beside him, standing and waving it at Riku.

With a teasing laugh, Riku swings his sword at Sora and says, "You can try!"

- **c**an **i** k**i**ss **y**o**u**? -

It was funny the way memory worked. Riku didn't understand it in the least; even Naminé hadn't, and she had been able to manipulate it. Because of her, Sora had forgotten so much, and so had everyone who cared about him. Kairi had forgotten him almost entirely. Riku—he'd never forgotten Sora, but his memory had gotten foggy, untrustworthy.

The most insignificant, irrelevant details could bring back memories from years ago. "You remember when you told me Santa isn't real?" Sora had said, that gloating, almost sing-song quality in his voice. "You were wrong. I met him!"

Somehow that had brought back a different memory. Riku had been six to Sora's five, and he'd been just as cocky at six as he was at fifteen when darkness came to call. _I guess I always thought I knew everything,_ he thought dryly. He hugged his knee to his chest and stared out over the ocean; usually he could be found on his little island, sitting on the bent trunk of the paopu tree, but right now he was on the beach next to the dock. Right where he'd been asked that innocent question: "Can I kiss you?"

He almost wished he didn't remember it. Such a silly old memory… it hadn't meant anything, and it had been forgotten within an hour. Sora probably didn't remember it at all. But how different might things be if Riku hadn't been such an ignorant know-it-all?

It was tempting to find Sora and ask him if he remembered asking if he could kiss Riku. He had this mental image of himself grabbing Sora's shoulders and _shaking_ him. _I was an idiot! Boys do kiss boys! I should have said yes!_ But there was no way he'd actually do that. The time had long passed. Sora liked Kairi… _But if I'd answered differently, would he still like her? Or would it be me he liked?_

And the very worst part of the memory. "We fight!" Was it possible to set your destiny at six years old? If it was, Riku suspected that those words had set him on the path he'd taken. He didn't belong to the darkness anymore, but it had left its mark on him. Everything was changed.

But everything was the same, too.

_It didn't mean anything. I was only six! And even if it did, what good does dwelling on it do?_

"We fight!"

Riku shook his head and climbed to his feet, brushing his sandy hands on his pants. They didn't have to fight anymore, he decided. He'd never fight with Sora again.

With a glance back out over the ocean, he trotted off to find his best friend.

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- y**o**ur fr**i**end**l**y **n**eig**h**borho**o**d kher**gasm** -

I'm probably going to start a pair of one-shot collections, but this one wouldn't fit. There's basically no canon for it… it's just an idea I got based on a kindergarten memory of my own. Based _very loosely_, but yes. The first part is present tense because I felt the immediacy of it was more fitting than past tense for a five-year-old's perspective.

I haven't been on FFN in ages, so I may have some formatting difficulties and such until I figure out what the hell is going on. Bear with me?


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